Events

Risky Business: Cost of Doing Nothing about Climate Change

This event will open for registration, for City Club of Portland members on Thursday, June 26th. It will open to the general public on Monday, June 30th.

Former US Secretary of the Treasury Hank Paulson will participate in a lunchtime discussion on Climate Change, China and Corporate Risk. Paulson serves as the Chairman of The Paulson Institute, which focuses on strengthening the economic and environmental relationship between the U.S. and China. He also is a co-chair of the Risky Business initiative, along with Michael Bloomberg and Tom Steyer, which seeks to quantify the range of economic risks the United States faces from climate change. The impacts of climate change are already being felt across the United States, including here in the Pacific Northwest, and the best science tells us they are likely to increase over the coming decades. These challenge are compounded by the growing energy needs of China and other countries in the developing world. But how significant are these risks? Paulson will help answer that question as he shares key findings from the Risky Business research and discusses the intersection between the United States and China on environmental and economic issues.

More about the Risky Business Study

The Risky Business study, the first-ever analysis of its kind, consists of an this independent risk assessment of the shows the potential costs of climate change on coastal infrastructure, energy services, labor productivity, agriculture, and public health, combining existing data on the current and potential impacts of climate change with original research that quantifies potential future costs across the United States. The analysis behind Risky Business expands upon the extensive research of other major climate reports and adds significantly more detailed local results, down to state-level impacts. While the costs results vary tremendously by location, the report shows that climate change has the potential to seriously affect businesses’ bottom lines if we continue on a business-as-usual path. America’s businesses are fully capable of rising to the challenges of climate change. Understanding the risks of climate change will enable let business leaders to capitalize on the opportunities that addressing climate change creates.